Cover Sheet

Shannon Smith
Story Slug: Ruckus, Theft,
Article Title: Causing a ruckus: motorized scooter theft on the rise
Budget Line: A deeper look into the thefts of ruckuses on Campus.
Contacts:
Karson Keogh karsonkeogh@tx.rr.com
Junior at the University of Texas, ruckus owner
John Henry Swingler jhswingler@gmail.com
Senior at the University of Texas, victim of ruckus theft
Officer William R. Pieper #827 photocop@mail.utexas.edu
Crime Prevention Unit, University of Texas Police Department
Sgt. Robert Smith #3851 Robert.Smith@austintexas.gov
Auto Theft Unit, Austin Police Department
Invisible Sources:
http://powersports.honda.com/2014/ruckus.aspx
http://www.utexas.edu/police/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_identification_number
Follow-up Stories:
1. Car theft in the city of Austin
2. Economic story on the parking situation in Austin- where does the money
from parking garages, etc. go?
3. Flee Market: centers for stolen goods (feature story)

Causing a ruckus: motorized scooter theft on the rise

By Shannon Smith
Before visiting a college campus, the word ruckus may lack significance to
an everyday person. Yet, once a part of a large university campus, the word finds
meaning in a motorized scooter, smaller than a motorcycle and bigger than a moped.
These ruckuses are fair in price and give students a way to avoid making long treks
across campus.
Karson Keogh, a junior at The University of Texas at Austin, saw a ruckus as
the perfect way to maneuver around campus.
Parking a car on campus is such a pain. You have to deal with finding a spot,
and then even worse you have to deal with paying attention to permit and
restrictions signs, or face getting a parking ticket, Keogh said.
She found a solution in her ruckus, it is easier to park, has significantly better
gas mileage, and is easier to maintain. However, Keogh is not the only one to realize
the benefits of owning a ruckus, and unfortunately this has become a problem. The
theft of ruckuses has become more and more apparent in the past years.
Theyre very small, light in weight, and can easily be thrown into the bed of a
truck and gone within seconds, said Officer William R. Piper of The University of
Texas Police Department.
Additionally, he mentioned the failure of owners to log their vehicle
identification number, a 17-digit number unique to each individual vehicle. He
explained that by not registering that identification number, the risk of never
finding a stolen ruckus increases substantially.

Although the model attempts to take anti-theft precautions through the

locking of wheels and uniqueness of key, in reality it fails to realistically prevent
robberies.
You can bring the ruckus to any average locksmith claiming you lost your
key or forgot your key code and voil you have a brand new key fit for your stolen
vehicle, Pieper said.
While Pieper is no stranger to these thefts on campus, he recognized that
they are more prominent in West Campus, the neighborhood due west of Guadalupe
Street. West Campus, however, falls into Austin Police Departments jurisdiction.
According the Austin Police Department Theft Unit, there have been 33
ruckus thefts in the past year in West Campus alone. This signifies a 58% increase of
the aforementioned theft since Oct. 2012.
UT senior, John Henry Swingler, is among one of these victims. In the fall of
2013 Swingler parked his ruckus outside his apartment in West Campusby the
next morning it was gone.
According to APD records, of the 33 reported thefts, only nine have been
recovered to date. Swingler is among the majority who never see the return of their
ruckus.
I always felt a little uneasy leaving my ruckus parked on the road overnight,
but so many other people park theirs out there too, I never figured mine would be
the one to be stolen, Swingler recalled.
Officer Pieper acknowledged this feeling of confidence many students
possess.

Keogh has heard similar horror stories of stolen ruckuses, and for
preventative measures, does not leave her ruckus parked outside overnight. Instead
she parks it in her apartment buildings parking garage, which is enterable only by
residents.
You never think its going to happen to you until it does, Pieper said. As a
precaution, Pieper urges students to purchase large, high quality locks, that cannot
be cut off the ruckus; logging identification numbers and keeping recorded for
future use; and even engraving the ruckus with your drivers license, increasing your
chances even greater of having your ruckus returned. If stolen, victims should
report theft immediately to the Police and supply all pertinent vehicle information.